{"id":380304,"date":"2026-04-03T17:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/380304\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:26:14","slug":"justin-baldonis-lawyer-says-defendants-are-very-good-people-as-blake-lively-lawsuit-narrows-blake-lively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/380304\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Baldoni\u2019s lawyer says defendants are \u2018very good people\u2019 as Blake Lively lawsuit narrows | Blake Lively"},"content":{"rendered":"

Justin Baldoni\u2019s lawyers have responded after most of Blake Lively<\/a>\u2019s claims against the director were dismissed<\/a> by a federal judge on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Judge Lewis Liman threw out 10 of the 13 claims that Lively had made against Baldoni and others, including allegations of sexual harassment, conspiracy and defamation.<\/p>\n

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni\u2019s lawyer, described the defendants as \u201cvery good people who have not engaged in this sexual harassment as alleged\u201d in a statement to Associated Press<\/a>. \u201cIt is gratifying to see that the courts ruling confirms what the legal team believed from day one,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendants were not afraid of the truth,\u201d Freedman said in a separate statement to TMZ<\/a>. \u201cThe plan was not only to speak the truth but to also show that same truth over and over again through the presentation of actual evidence. Neither Justin Baldoni, [It Ends With Us lead producer] Jamey Heath nor any of the other defendants have engaged in the sexual harassment of Blake Lively.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a 152-page opinion, Liman said that Lively\u2019s claims must be viewed in the context of the film that she and Baldoni were working on. It Ends With Us<\/a> is a domestic abuse drama that features a number of intimate scenes between Lively and Baldoni\u2019s characters.<\/p>\n

Liman wrote: \u201cLively claims that during filming, Baldoni leaned in and gestured as if he was intending to kiss her, and that he kissed her forehead, rubbed his face and mouth against her neck, put his thumb to her mouth and flicked her lower lip, caressed her, and leaned into her neck, saying \u2018it smells good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Liman said, Baldoni was \u201cacting in the scene\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cCreative artists, no less than comedy room writers, must have some amount of space to experiment within the bounds of an agreed script without fear of being held liable for sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no question that this conduct might support a hostile work environment claim if it occurred on the factory floor or in the executive suite. But in all sexual harassment cases, the court must carefully consider the social context in which particular behaviour occurs and is experienced by its target,\u201d Liman continued.<\/p>\n

Liman additionally determined that Lively was not entitled to bring sexual harassment claims against Baldoni because she was working on It Ends With Us as an independent contractor rather than an employee.<\/p>\n

The decision leaves Lively\u2019s case<\/a> against her It Ends With Us director and co-star with a slimmer focus, and will go to trial next month on the basis of what Lively alleges was a negative retaliatory campaign.<\/p>\n

After rumors of a rift between Baldoni and Lively<\/a> began to surface following the release of It Ends With Us in August 2024, Baldoni and lead producer Jamey Heath hired a crisis PR team. Lively says that their goal was to smear<\/a> her reputation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lively\u2019s attorney, Mike Gottlieb, said in a statement to the Guardian on Friday: \u201cThe Court\u2019s ruling that Ms. Lively\u2019s state and federal harassment claims could not go to trial was about legal issues rather than an endorsement of the defendants\u2019 conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court held that Ms. Lively\u2019s sexual harassment claims could not go to a jury because Ms. Lively did not sign a contract, that she is an independent contractor instead of an employee, and that the offensive conduct occurred in New Jersey instead of California. The fact that Bryan Freedman is claiming exoneration based on legal technicalities while facing trial next month tells you everything you need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian has reached out to lawyers for Baldoni for additional comment. A trial is scheduled for 18 May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Justin Baldoni\u2019s lawyers have responded after most of Blake Lively\u2019s claims against the director were dismissed by a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":380305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-380304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=380304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/380304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=380304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=380304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=380304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}